1. Field
Acrylic composition applicator cleaners. More particularly, a chemical composition and method for cleaning brushes used to apply sculpted acrylic nails or acrylic based compositions.
2. Related Art
Beauty salons typically offer services including artificial and sculpted nail applications. The sculpted and artificial nails are generally applied with an applicator. The applicator is often a brush with bristles made of a synthetic material, boar hide, or any other common variety of bristles. These brushes are generally in a class which may be classified as paint brushes. Of primary concern in such applications, is the overall cost and ease with which the sculpted and artificial nails are applied to human nails. The sculpted and artificial nails are typically built up with a process using acrylic compositions. The applicator brush is dipped into an acrylic liquid. While the brush is still wet with the liquid, the brush is then dipped into an acrylic powder that mixes with the liquid to become a slurry on the end of the brush. This slurry is applied to the human nail and sculpted as desired. Upon completion of the application, the applied slurry polymerizes and hardens, a reaction which may be initiated either by the combination of polymerization initiators and catalysts in the liquid and powder, or by the application of ultraviolet (UV) light in the case of photo-initiated products. The brush previously used for the application is then cleaned and dried for future use. Unfortunately, any acrylic residue remaining on the brush will contaminate future acrylic slurries, and will eventually destroy the usefulness of the brush by hardening on the bristles, due to the continuing curing reaction, or by exposure to ambient light in the case of a photo-initiated product. This problem requires that particular care be taken to remove all acrylic residue from the brush prior to its next use.
Removing all the acrylic residue from the brush can be problematic, because brush cleaners may themselves contaminate the next acrylic application, require long drying times, and/or damage the brushes.
Several substances are commonly used to facilitate and speed the cleaning, including chlorinated solvents, the use of pure liquid monomer if applied before the slurry completely hardens, and/or other cleaning solvents including acetone or methylacetate. Chlorinated solvents including methylenechloride and trichloroethene may be used with acceptable results to remove the acrylic residues off the brush. However, if traces of chlorinated solvents remain on the brush, severe yellowing in the next set of nails may result. Chlorinated solvents, then, must only be used at the end of the day, and thoroughly dried overnight; even so, remnants of the chorinated solvents sometimes linger and contaminate the next day's acrylic nail sets. Also of concern is the effect of the chlorinated solvents on people and the environment. Some believe that chlorinated solvents pose health risks. Use of pure liquid monomer to clean the acrylic residue from the brush is not ideal because any residue left on the brush at the next application may contaminate the next batch. Use of pure cleaning solvents such as acetone and methylacetate is also problematic. Although use of pure cleaning solvents allows for fast turnaround times, these solvents tend to be hard on brush bristles. Bristles may become prematurely deformed due to the drying effects of the solvents on the bristles of the brush. Other solutions that have been tried also cause yellowing of the acrylic over time or cause the working properties of the acrylic to change.